Lost and Alone
by zblazer
Summary: Fayt and Nel are on their way to Airyglyph to perform a task, but it doesn't go as well as they plan. FaytxNel
1. Dragons

Zero: Too tired to write anything correctly. I'm writing this story while I'm really tired, so don't be surprised if I make a lot of grammer/spelling mistakes. My muses are already asleep, so yeah…

Zero: I don't own Tri-Ace, Square Enix, and whatever is related to Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time. Enjoy.

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Chapter 1

Dragons

"You know, you didn't have to come with me. I could have done this job myself," Nel said to the blue-haired boy.

Fayt smiled. "It's fine. I don't mind. Besides, it'll keep me occupied until the Diplo is ready for launch."

The two were walking through Kirlsa on their way to Airyglyph from Aquios. Nel was asked to deliver a message to King Airyglyph XIII. The contents of the message were not mentioned, but it was said to be nothing too important, so an officer of a lower ranking was to take it, but Nel wanted to complete the task since she enjoyed being busy. Fayt was waiting for Maria and the others to finish up on some last minute touches of the Diplo before they could launch again. Since they were doing it leisurely, it was to take a couple of hours. With nothing better to do, he decided to tag along with Nel.

Nel looked over at a store, and stopped walking. Noticing this, Fayt stopped too. "What's up?"

"We should stock up on some supplies. Aren't we running low?"

Fayt looked into his inventory. "Yeah, now that you mentioned it, it might be a good idea to stock up." After the battle with Luther, buying healing supplements and items of the sort didn't really cross his mind. With the Executioners removed from the Eternal Sphere, only normal enemies roamed, and they were no match to them now.

* * *

After shopping for a few minutes for the minimum requirements, the two continued on their journey through the cold, snowy road to Airyglyph.

Fayt cupped his hands over his mouth, and blew hot air into them. He then crossed his arms over his body. "Why do I always forget to bring a jacket every time I come here?"

Nel chuckled and shook her head at the same time. "You can't let a little slow like this phase you. Doesn't it snow where you live?"

"Not really. Where I live, snow isn't a really common occurrence. I saw snow when I was a child with Sophia once, but that was a while back. I can barely remember it."

"I see. Before the war, I would walk around here from time to time, so it doesn't bother me that much. I've gotten used to it."

Fayt sighed, pulling out his sword. "Looks like we're going to be interrupted."

"Seems so," Nel replied, pulling out her daggers.

A couple of dragons flew from the sky, hovering over their heads. "What the…?" Fayt questioned, "Are these Airyglyph's?"

Nel shook her head. "No, these look different. Take caution."

Fayt nodded. He rushed forward and executed a somersault kick on one of them, shooting it into the air. "Nel!"

Knowing what to do, Nel jumped into the air and initiated her Aerial attack, attacking with three horizontal slashes. As it fell to the ground, Fayt quickly used his Charge attack on it, as he crashed his body into the monster.

"This is it! Ice Daggers!" She magically formed three daggers out of ice and threw them at the dragon. It roared in pain as its hard skin was ripped open, blood spurting out, dyeing the white snow red.

Fayt looked up into the air, and managed to use his Aura to block the attack, at the same time stunning the dragon. "Tch, there're still two more."

Nel landed back on the ground, and threw a few more Ice Daggers at the two dragons that weren't stunned, but they easily dodged them.

"Explosion!"

Nel looked over at the source of the command, and saw Fayt with a glyph in front of his hand. She then looked up into the air, and saw a giant ball of fire slowly float down to the ground. The two quickly ran out of the way of the attack as upon impact with the ground the ball exploded into a giant dome of searing flames. Within the dome the two could hear the cries of pain from the dragons inside.

Taking this time to her advantage, Nel quickly charged up a ball of energy in her hand. "My turn." She pushed the ball forward as it finished charging. "Lightning Strike!"

Right when the fire dispersed, bolts of lightning struck down from the sky, electrifying two of the dragons until they fell to the ground, dead.

Fayt ran forward at the last dragon. "This is the finisher! Air…" He slammed his sword up into the air, slashing the dragon's head in the process. "Raid!" he then finished by striking down his sword along with dozens of arrows of air at the dragon, ripping its skin as it roared in pain.

The two looked around at the bleeding dragons laid to waste, as well as the red snow all around them. Fayt chuckled embarrassingly. "Looks like we went a bit too far."

"It not over yet." Nel's eyes narrowed at the sky.

"Damn!" Fayt shouted, looking at the direction Nel.

A small dot was seen, but became larger and larger until one could see what it was. The figure of a large, black dragon at least ten meters tall dropped onto the ground, roaring with anger. The shockwaves of the roar alone pushed the two of them back.

"Think it's angry we killed the other dragons?" Fayt asked jokingly.

Nel simply shook her head, amazed about how Fayt was taking this situation. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

The two rushed forward. Nel struck the dragon with her daggers, but it didn't even make a bruise. Fayt slashed at it with his sword as well, but with the same result. The dragon flapped its wings, as the force of the wind created from the flaps lifted Fayt and Nel off their feet and pushed them back. Nel slid across the snow as she fell, and Fayt crashed into a tree, snapping it in the process.

"Are you okay, Nel?" Fayt asked in pain.

She shook her head and returned to her right state of mind. She looked back at Fayt. "I should be asking you that instead."

He stood up slowly. "Ow ow ow…yeah, I'm okay." He returned to his fighting stance.

Nel stared down at the dragon. "I'm not sure how we're going to take this thing out."

Fayt raised his sword up into the air. "Buy me some time."

She nodded to him, and then rushed forward.

He took a deep breath, as a blue light appeared below him. "Divine…"

She dodged a fireball shot out from the dragon's mouth, and then threw some Ice Daggers that bounced off harmlessly from its skin.

A young girl with angel wings appears above Fayt. She held her hands out to his raised sword, as white light began to swirl around the sword.

Nel dodged yet another fireball, but lost her footing as the melted ice made her slip. She quickly tried to get back to her feet, but the dragon's arm was already in the position of a fist. Her eyes widened. She couldn't dodge it in time. _"Fayt!"_ she screamed in her head.

"Blade!" Running full force, Fayt rushed forward at the dragon as glowing white feathers trailed from his sword. He slammed his sword into the dragon's incoming fist. Nel relaxed a little, staring at his light-enveloped sword.

"Cut…" Fayt pushed harder. "through!!" Eventually a small tear appeared in the dragon's skin. The tear quickly ripped open, as Fayt's sword cut through half of the arm. The two halves of the arm flapped around with the bones inside visible. The dragon roared in pain as it staggered back.

Nel tried to get up, but she quickly fell back down, wincing in pain. "Of all the places where I could be hurt…!" She placed a hand on her ankle. Her black leggings turned a shade of red as her blood was being absorbed into the material.

The dragon opened its mouth, as fire swirled around inside it. Suddenly, a torrent of fire shot out. Acting fast, Fayt dropped his sword and scooped Nel up in his arms as he ran away from the flames. As the fire hit the ground, a shockwave occurred, pushing them further back. Fayt fell on his back as Nel tumbled over him.

"Fayt!" she cried, staring down at his pained face.

"Get off me, please," he requested.

She rolled off, but still couldn't stand because of the pain. She closed her eyes and began to chant a healing spell, but once again, another burst of flames headed their way. She pushed off the ground with her good leg and dodged the attack. "Fayt, if this keeps up we'll…" she stopped, then looked around. "Fayt?" He was nowhere to be found.

She looked over at the dragon, and saw Fayt floating in front of it, arms wide open. The same angelic girl appeared again above him, but this time the white light was being charged into a glyph that appeared above his forehead. "Ethereal…" he said calmly.

Nel's eyes widened. "Fayt! No!"

The dragon finished charging another blast, as it fired it directly at Fayt. The boy stared down at the dragon, his own energy charged. "Blast!" he shouted out. A white beam of light struck down from the glyph.

The two destructive attacks met, as they canceled each other out upon impact, but the beams still continued shooting out from both of them. Eventually, the energy from the blasts gathered up, and created a small ball of light and fire, slowly growing larger and larger. The ball eventually could not stand the pressure, and exploded. Bursts of light and fire shot out in every direction, as well as an incredible shockwave, ripping trees from their roots and sending large boulders flying out in every direction.

"Fayt!" Nel screamed, outstretching her arm towards the boy with all her strength, as her body was shot away by the shockwave. Her consciousness slowly weakened, as she fainted while flying through the air…

* * *

Zero: Please R&R, k thx. goes off to bed


	2. Sickness

Zero: I decided to change some of my muses. Xyrho is getting old, plus I don't think many of you even know who he is. While I think of someone, I'll start releasing this chapter. Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes, as always.

Lynas: Zero doesn't own Star Ocean or anything related to Star Ocean. There, Disclaimer done.

Zero: Alright. Well, this chapter is more Nel-oriented than it is Fayt. I don't know if the future chapters are going to be like this yet. I haven't thought that far yet. Haha. Okay, well then, enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 2

Sickness

Nel groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The front of her body felt cold, and it was of no wonder since she was laying face down in snow. She turned herself over and sat up. There was nothing in sight other than mountains and more snow. It was obvious she was still in Airyglyph because of the snow, but the question was _where_ in Airyglyph. The castle was nowhere to be seen, and there was nothing around that looked memorable to her.

She tried to stand up, but quickly winced in pain. She fell back to the ground and stared at the wound in her ankle. "I should take care of this first." She used a healing spell on herself, quickly healing her ankle and any other wounds on her body. She stood up with her hands on her waist, as she continued to look around. Then she remembered something. "Fayt…" she said softly.

The boy was last seen in the explosion caused by the dragon's attack and his Ethereal Blast. Did he die? She shook her head, trying to escape the thought. That can't be it. He's tougher than that. She nodded to herself. She was sure he was still alive. "I should probably find a place for shelter before I find Fayt, or else I'll have nowhere safe to take him to." Now with a plan, Nel walked off to find any kind of shelter away from the vast amount of snow.

It didn't take long until she found a small cave in a mountain. She smiled. Looks like things weren't as bad as she thought if it took only this amount of time to find shelter. Her smile quickly became a frown though, after realizing that there was no wood to build a fire. She couldn't continuously cast Fire Bolt or anything of the sort, as that would be energy-consuming and wouldn't be rational. Then there was the problem of food. The two were planning on staying in Airyglyph for the night to sleep and eat, so they only brought a few snacks and fruits.

She placed a hand on her forehead, shaking her head once again. "This is a real mess we're in…" she looked back at the snow. "Or at least I'm in until I can find Fayt."

Nel continued walking through the endless amounts of snow, looking far and wide for Fayt. She knew that it didn't make sense to search for him. She wasn't even sure that he flew this way, but she searched anyways, hoping to find the boy. What's worse she couldn't shout out his name, or else it would cause in avalanche. After about three hours of searching, she finally gave up and decided to head back. Just then, as she took a step, her foot caught onto something, and she tripped forward.

She looked at what she tripped on, and saw a small patch of gray in the snow. She touched the object, and it felt soft. "Wait…" she quickly uncovered the object, and found blue hair. "Fayt!" she started removing the snow faster than before. After uncovering most of his body, she took hold of his legs and pulled him out of the snow with all her might. His facedown body laid flat on the snow, motionless.

After pulling him out, she flipped him over and grabbed his arm, taking two fingers and placing them on his wrist to try and feel for a pulse. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She couldn't feel one. Panicking a little, Nel dropped his arm, and placed her head on his chest, trying to hear or feel a heartbeat. Once again, she closed her eyes to enhance her other senses. After a few seconds, she showed a relieved smile. It was small, but she could feel a small beat as well as hear a very slight thumping sound. She opened her eyes and lifted her head. Afterwards she flipped him back over on his stomach and then grabbed his arms, pulling them over her shoulders. She tried to stand up, but dropped back down immediately.

"Why do you have to be so heavy…?" Nel complained. Her body wasn't built for carrying heavy things, since her profession required stealth and speed rather than strength.

She adjusted Fayt on her back until he was in a comfortable position for her. Grabbing hold of his thighs around her waist, she slowly walked back to where the cave was.

Around halfway, Fayt moved a little by himself and groaned. Nel stopped walking and looked at his face, but quickly stopped and turned the other way, blushing. His head was resting on her shoulder, but it was so close that if she faced his direction, her lips would touch his cheek. Shaking it off, she continued walking. Even though he moved, it seemed like he was simply fidgeting during his sleep.

* * *

Back in the cave, she slowly placed Fayt on the cold stone floor. The only light that could be seen was the small amount of sunlight shining in from the entrance. She leaned against a wall, and stared at Fayt, as he was the only interesting thing in the room at the moment.

Fayt's been found. That was a relief. _"But when will anyone find us?"_ Nel thought to herself. She sighed. For now, she'll just check how Fayt was doing.

Just at the moment, Fayt's breathing became abnormal. It was growing faster and sounded more painful. Concerned, Nel looked over at his face. It was bright red. She quickly pulled back his front hair and her own, and lowered her head so their foreheads touched. His forehead was at a much higher temperature than her own.

"A fever…" she said with concern. If she didn't do something soon, this could turn into something much worse. Fayt probably had something, but she would have no idea how to use it. For now, all she could do was place ice on his forehead.

Nel left the cave, and grabbed a handful of snow. She pressed it together until it became somewhat hard. After that, she wrapped it around her scarf and returned back inside. She tied the ends of the scarf together, and placed it on Fayt's forehead. She sat back down, but this time much closer to Fayt, as she had to see when she had to replace the snow.

After an hour or so, Fayt's eyes began to open. His vision was blurred, but he could make out a person in the area. "What…? Who…?"

Nel noticed him speak, and looked down at his face. "You're finally awake. How do you feel?"

"Horrible…my forehead is freezing." He tried to sit up, but Nel placed his arm on his chest, gently pushing him back down.

She shook her head. "You have a fever. You need to rest or it'll become worse."

He nodded slightly, as he relaxed his body. He closed his eyes again. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Nel shook her head. "All I know is that we're in Airyglyph territory."

"I see…" he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his quad scanner. After pressing some buttons, he sighed. "The snow and this cave are blocking my signals. I can't even tell the general area we're in." flipping the scanner close, he placed it on the ground, too tired to put it back in his pocket.

"I need to change this again. I'll be right back." She grabbed her scarf from his forehead and left the cave, soon returning with new snow.

"Thanks, Nel. Sorry, if only I wasn't like this, I could-"

Nel shook her head. "It's fine. Just relax. I'll take care of you."

Fayt gave a weak laugh. Suddenly, his stomach rumbled. "Damn it…"

Nel chuckled. "I have some things. Wait a moment." she opened up a satchel she had hanging from her waist. "Here, let me help you up. I'd rather have you lying down, but that's not healthy while eating." She gently helped the boy sit up. The scarf dropped down into his lap. Nel removed it and placed it to the side.

She placed the fruit into Fayt's hands. Fayt brought it up to his mouth, but it seemed more like he was bending his body forward to reach the fruit. He attempted to take a bite, but he felt so weak, that his jaws weren't strong enough to even break through the fruit's soft skin. He laughed weakly. "Wow…this sucks."

"Fayt…" Nel looked at him sadly. She took the fruit back from him, and took a bite out of it herself. After chewing it for a little while, she placed a hand behind Fayt's head, as she pressed her lips against his.

Fayt's eyes widened and his face turned red. He could feel the contents of the fruit being pushed from Nel's mouth into his own. She pulled her head away; her own face showed a tint of red as well. After chewing the rest of the softened fruit and swallowing it, Fayt turned towards Nel. "Nel, you don't have to-"

"It's fine," she said again, "I don't mind. Or do _you_ mind?"

Fayt smiled embarrassingly, looking down at the ground. "N…no…It's just that, won't you catch my cold?"

Nel shook her head, taking another chunk of fruit into her mouth, chewing it, and fed it to Fayt mouth-to-mouth again. After parting again, she smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

She continued to feed him mouth-to-mouth, both of them somewhat embarrassed. Nel's head was in a conflict her herself during this. She constantly tried to convince herself that she was doing this because of Fayt. It was only because he can't eat by himself, nothing more. However, somewhere in her heart, she knew otherwise. She wanted this. Even if it was just feeding him, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed sensation of Fayt's lips against hers. It came to her as a tingle of joy. As she continued, she tried with all her will to not go further. She tried to stop the desire to push not only food into his mouth, but her tongue as well.

It then hit her. Was she in love? Did she love Fayt? She never felt this way about anyone else. To wish for something such as a passionate kiss with someone; it must have been love. Her heart suddenly pounded harder than before, and her face grew even redder. The pounding was so strong that she could swear Fayt could hear it as well. She stopped feeding him, as she gripped her clothes over her chest.

"Nel?" Fayt asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

Snapping out of the feeling, Nel coughed a bit, like she was trying to clear her throat. "I'm fine, don't worry."

Fayt laughed a little. "That's all you've been saying recently." His face then showed unease again. "This is pretty hard on you, isn't it? You can stop if you'd like."

Nel shook her head. "No, it's okay." She continued to feed him, suppressing the feeling.

_"It would never work,"_ Nel thought. He was four years younger than her. Not only that, but he was from a completely different world that she wasn't accustomed to. She would never be able to adjust to his lifestyle. Plus, he already had Sophia, who was a closer age, and also had more in common with the boy. Even Maria would be a better choice than herself. It just wasn't meant to be, whether she wanted it or not. She continued to keep that thought in her head as time went by.

After eating about two of the fruits, Fayt was already full; most likely because of his weakened state. Nel helped him back down, as he closed his eyes, quickly falling back to sleep. Nel went outside with her scarf to grab more snow to place on his forehead.

After a few hours of grabbing snow, Nel smiled on her way back outside. She would normally never have to do something like this, since she could call up a doctor or someone with better medical knowledge than herself. Was this how it felt to be a housewife? Going through all this trouble to take care of your loved one? Once again, she pushed those thoughts back again. _"I can't…"_ After she exited the cave, she looked up into the sky. She could see the sun setting behind a mountain. It was going to be dark soon. She wondered if they would be alright. It would be bad if a storm started up.

Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew by, causing Nel to shiver. _"Did I jinx it?"_ She sighed.

Reentering the cave, she placed the scarf on Fayt's forehead again. She gently slapped his cheek to wake him up. "Fayt," she said, "Wake up."

He didn't wake up. She resorted to shaking his body a little, then shouting his name into his ear, but to no avail. Sighing, she leaned against the wall. The sun's light soon vanished and Nel's vision saw nothing but pitch black. It looks like the moon wasn't planning on coming out this night. The only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing outside. Nel hugged her legs, resting her head on her knees. It was getting very cold due to the lack of sun as well as some of the wind from the storm blowing into the cave.

She looked over at Fayt, or at least where Fayt's body should be. She couldn't see, after all. If he stayed asleep, he most likely would never wake up if it is this cold. She had to either wake him up or warm him up somehow. Closing her eyes, she tried to think of a way. They didn't have any materials, so she couldn't cover him with anything. She couldn't search for materials either, since searching requires the ability to see.

"But at this rate…" she said softly, "Oh…" she suddenly remembered a way, but blushed at the thought of it. "But…" she nodded. "It's only because he'll die. That's all." She took deep breaths to calm herself down.

Slowly, Nel unfastened the buckles on her waist, and eventually stripped herself down so all she was wearing was her panties and her leggings. She felt in front of her, and found Fayt's body. First she folded up her clothes to make a type of pillow for Fayt's head to rest on. Afterwards, she unzipped his vest and took it off. She also pulled up his undershirt. She proceeded to take off some of the armor from his pants so they could be removed, and then unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants half way. She slowly pushed her body against his, and used his vest as a poor replacement for a sheet. Nel wrapped an arm over his chest while the other arm was held close between them. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She could already feel her body slowly warming his up, and in turn she felt warmer than before.

She smiled, closing her eyes. "This isn't as uncomfortable as I…thought…" she said before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Zero: Yay done.

Lynas: Review if you'd like. Seems like fanfiction writers seem to like it a lot.

Zero: 'Course, it makes us feel like we made some people happy instead of feeling like we put up something useless on the net.

Lyans: Whatever, I'm gone.

Zero: Same. Again, please review. : )


	3. Hot Water

Zero: No musing for today again. I don't own Star Ocean or anything related to it. Please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes as always.

* * *

Chapter 3

Hot Water

Fayt's slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the stone ceiling with a curious face. "Where am I again?"

He tried to remember what happened the day before. "Let's see…we were on our way to Airyglyph to deliver a message…" he let out a small gasp and his eyes widened. "That's right! We got lost! And I got sick, and-" he finally noticed Nel lying next to him. "Whoa!"

He attempted to register multiple things in his head at once. Nel's arm was latched around his chest, snuggling next to him. Next off they were naked. Well, not completely naked, but naked enough. Fayt didn't feel he was familiar enough with Nel to be sleeping with her, let alone sleeping with her naked. His face felt hot. "What happened yesterday?!" he yelped, "I don't recall anything like this happening!"

Nel moaned, as she awoke as well because of his ruckus. She opened her eyes and looked over at Fayt's red face. She gave a smile. "Good morning."

"M-Morning…" he gulped. He could already feel the blood entering a certain part of his body. _"Don't notice it…please don't notice it…"_ he begged in his head.

Nel suddenly remember what she did last night. Her eyes widened, as she quickly pushed away from Fayt with his vest in hand to cover herself. She quickly stood up and dashed away, but tripped on her own feet due to the sudden rush.

"Look out!" Fayt cried. He tried to catch her, but since his pants were halfway down, he only stood up partially before he tripped and fell along with Nel, causing the two to tumble onto each other.

They ended up lying face down on each other with Fayt on top and Nel on the bottom.

"S-Sorry…" Fayt apologized with a winced face.

Fayt couldn't see Nel's face since she was looking directly at the ground, but it was completely red. "Get off me, please. Your…thing is touching my behind."

Fayt looked down and surely enough his wiener was between her buns. He quickly jumped off of her and swiftly pulled up his pants to hide the bulge in his boxers. "Sorry! I'm really sorry!" He quickly ran out the cave. "I'll be waiting outside for you to get dressed!"

Nel was still lying down on the ground even after he left. She started chuckling softly, amused at what just occurred, regardless how embarrassing it was.

* * *

Fayt was standing outside looking at the sky. He yawned a bit and then started stretching. He wasn't in top shape, but he definitely felt better than he did the day before. He slowly remembered how Nel fed him, and blushed. The thought of a romantic relationship with Nel never crossed his head before today. He simply laughed it off, shaking his head. "Yeah right, Fayt. Get your head out of the gutter. There's no way she'd be interested in you," he told himself aloud.

"Here."

Fayt turned, and saw his vest flying onto his face. He grabbed it off his head and saw Nel back in her normal attire. He quickly wore the vest, and zipped it up. "So what now? We can't stay here forever. We don't have enough food for more than today. Plus we'll eventually die from the cold."

She nodded. "Yes, I already came to that conclusion yesterday."

Fayt winced a little bit as he felt the impact of the words. "Sorry, I guess I was less than capable of anything yesterday." He chuckled embarrassingly. "I'm surprised I managed to think of using my quad scanner to find anything."

Nel tilted her head, puzzled, but then realized what came across Fayt's mind. She chuckled as well. "That's not what I meant. There's nothing to be sorry about. It's not like you became sick on purpose."

Relieved that she wasn't actually angry; he gave a light laugh. "Well, the problem is still there. How much food do you have left? I didn't bring anything with me other than recovery items."

"I brought a few pieces of fruit. We both had one yesterday," she paused a bit as both of them thought of yesterday. They both looked away from each other, feeling heat gathering in their cheeks, "and uh, we have about enough for today and tomorrow if we eat sparingly."

Calming down, Fayt looked back at Nel. "Okay, so we have until the day after tomorrow to find civilization, or at least a source of food."

She nodded at him after cooling off. "What do you propose we do?"

He placed his finger and thumb on his chin, as he rubbed it. "Hmm…I think we should split up and try and find anything that we can use." He looked around, and sighed. "Though I'm not sure what there is to use. There aren't even trees around here. It's all just snow."

"That's what I think as well." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I'll go that way, while you go the other way. We'll meet back here in three hours."

"Okay, but," he looked worried, "will you be able to find you way back?"

She chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I can take care of myself. I'm more worried about you."

He pulled out his quad scanner. "I have this, so you don't have to worry either."

She shook her head. "I meant your flu. Are you sure you're fit to walk around in snow?"

He gave a wink. "I'll be fine! I feel as good as new!" he grinned afterwards.

She nodded with a smile. "Okay, if you say so."

They looked at each other, and after a final nod to each other, they parted ways to find anything that could be useful.

* * *

Fayt sneezed, as his snot dripped out from his nose. "It's so cold…" he sneezed again. He still wasn't completely cured from his sickness regardless of what he told Nel. 

Unfortunately he didn't carry any medication on him that help with cold and flus. "Oh well…"

He looked down at his quad scanner. The general map function was completely jammed. All he could see on the screen was where the cave was and another life form, which was most likely Nel's. He scratched his head. "No wild animals here…I'm guessing it's because there's nothing to eat. Chances for food just went from low to slim."

As he continued walking his mind wandered to Nel again. He remembered how soft and smooth her skin was against him, and how unusually cute she look sleeping next to him, holding onto him like a small child. Although she covered herself, he still managed to see her bare chest. And the way she was embarrassed, it was just too much.

He finally snapped out of it, shaking his head. He felt a little trickle of saliva rolling down the corner of his mouth. Quickly wiping it off, he took a deep breath to calm himself, and walked on forward.

Suddenly, a large heat source was found by the quad scanner. He gave a curious look as he stared at the blinking marker on his map. "Doesn't look like a life form. Well, doesn't seem to be dangerous; might as well check it out." He changed his direction a little bit and continued on to the source.

* * *

Nel's end didn't seem any better than Fayt's. She looked around the area, but saw nothing that seemed to stand out in the vast white snow. She eventually managed to reach a cliff, and looked hopeful. She ran over to the edge and looked across, but her hope quickly returned to despair. All she could see was more snow and mountains. Nothing that resembled a tree or any kind of civilization was in sight.

She looked up in the sky, and realized that it was about time to return to the cave. On the way, she smiled gently when she remembered yesterday. She saw a side of Fayt that she had never seen before. He seemed so fragile and timid; he was very cute. Instead of Fayt being the protector, it felt more left she was the one protecting him, and the feeling made her heart flutter. She placed a hand over her chest, catching her breath from the series of thoughts.

The memory of the night when they slept also crossed her mind. She had never noticed how strong and hard his chest was. From only looking he appeared quite scrawny and weak, but she now knew that it was definitely not the case.

She caught herself quickly, as she stopped walking. Her face departed from a smile into sadness. "No…I have to stop, if I don't…"

* * *

The two met up back at the cave. Nel noticed a small grin on Fayt's face. "Did you find something?"

He shook his head. "Well, it's nothing important, but I managed to find something interesting."

"Interesting?" she looked at him curiously.

He nodded. "Yeah, I found a natural hot spring."

She seemed a little surprised.

He noticed her expression. "Well, it's nothing to be too shocked about. It's not abnormal for hot springs to be in places like this, but I can't say I was expecting it. You wanna know where it is, anyways?"

She thought for a little while, and nodded. "Yes, please."

Nodding, Fayt led Nel back to the heat source he found on his quad scanner.

They arrived after around half an hour. Steam could be seen rising from the oddly colored water. The hot spring had a diameter of around eight feet. It wasn't very large, but it seemed like a good enough size for someone to bathe in.

"I already checked it with my quad scanner. There isn't anything in the water that's bad for us, even if we drink it." He looked over at her. "Though, I wouldn't recommend drinking it in the first place."

She looked at Fayt with a smile. "Why don't you take a dip in it?"

He jumped a bit. "Huh?"

Nel closed her eyes, remembering something. "Someone once told me that hot springs have healing factors. Maybe it'll help with your cold."

"But that's…"

She shook her head, cutting him off. "Don't take me for a fool. I could see you were still being affected by it."

He couldn't reply. She was right.

"So relax yourself for now. Besides, you're sweating even though it's this cold. Did you run back or something?"

"Uh, yeah," he laughed. "I kinda lost track of time, and…" he stopped his sentence strangely.

"Take a break." She waved to him as she already began walking away.

"Alright alright…" he replied, as he already started taking off his vest.

After taking off the rest of clothes, he quickly went in the hot water before the cold wind hit him. He sat down in the water up to his shoulders. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he ever entered a hot spring. Although it seemed no different than a normal bath, there was still a sense of difference between the two of them. He could already feel all the muscles in his body relaxing as he gave a sigh of satisfaction. His eyes began to droop as he relaxed a bit too much. He slowly closed them and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

After about ten minutes or so, Fayt regained consciousness. He felt the water around him and remembered where he was. "Shoot, did I fall asleep…?" he moved his hand a bit, and felt something in the water. He looked over to his side, and saw Nel looking back at him.

The two remained motionless for a few seconds as they simply gaped at each other. After another few seconds, they quickly scooted away and turned their heads to opposite directions.

Nel was the first to say something, "I'm sorry. It's just that you were asleep, so I thought…"

Fayt quickly spoke out, "No! It's not your fault. It's uh…"

They stayed quiet for another moment. Fayt laughed a bit. "I don't mind bathing with you at all, but if we stay like this it won't be very comfortable for either of us." Both of them were basically hugging against the edge of the spring. "Um…how about we sit facing opposite directions near the middle of the spring?"

"Alright," Nel agreed.

They both slid themselves over to the middle of the water sitting with their backs against each other. Although they had more room now, the fact that they were in the same body of water completely naked still made the situation very awkward.

Fayt fidgeted a bit, as he moved his hand to a more comfortable position. He once again placed his hand on top of Nel's on accident. He quickly moved his hand back, but felt Nel's hand gently grab his. He turned his head to Nel, but he couldn't see her face. Turning back, he smiled, and positioned his hand so they both had a firm grip on each other.

"Fayt…"

"Nel…"

They both said the others' name at the same time.

"You go first," they both said at the same time again.

Silence fell. They continued to sit in the water, hands latched onto one another's.

Thousands of thoughts crossed each of their minds, as they both tried to find the right words to say. Their faces were both red, and their hearts were both beating rapidly.

"Nel!"

"Fayt!"

Yet again they called each others' names in unison. At the same time, they both let go and turned around to face each other. Both were fully exposed to the other and neither made an attempt to cover oneself.

Again, silence.

They both looked away from each other, but did not move.

Fayt eventually gathered up his courage and looked over at Nel and took both hands and placed them on her shoulders, causing her head to quickly turn towards his. "Nel! I…I…"

"Fayt…"

"I…I think I…" he gulped nervously. "I think I've fallen…"

Nel could feel her eyes watering and a tint of happiness arising.

"I think I've fallen in love…with you." Fayt finally finished.

She looked down as tears rolled down her face.

Fayt noticed them, and pulled his hands away."Sorry! That was stupid wasn't it? I mean, I'm just a kid compared to you and…"

Nel shook her head, as she firmly grabbed onto one of Fayt's hands with both of hers, surprising him. "No…I'm just…" she lifted her face up and smiled with tears, "really happy right now…"

Fayt didn't move as he continued to look at her.

"I…I love you too." She laughed.

Fayt smiled brightly, as his fears for the worst were for nothing. Nel released his hand, and he proceeded to wrap his arms around her body. He lowered his head down towards hers as their lips met. Nel gently wrapped her own arms around Fayt so her arms crossed his back and grabbed his shoulders. Their lips parted as they looked at each other. Fayt slowly pushed Nel against the edge of the spring.

"Wait…" she stopped him. "This is my first time, so…"

Fayt nodded. "Okay, I'll be as gentle as I can."

They smiled at each other, as they kissed again, this time longer and more sensual than before; their tongues wrapping around each other. They then proceeded to fulfill each others' burning desires…

* * *

Zero: Please review. Thank you. Sorry if either character felt OOC in this chapter.


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